3 Stocks Near 52-Week Lows Worth Buying

Just as we examine companies each week that may be rising past their fair value, we can also find companies potentially trading at bargain prices. While many investors would rather have nothing to do with companies tipping the scales at 52-week lows, I think it makes a lot of sense to determine whether the market has overreacted to the downside, just as we often do when the market reacts to the upside.

Here's a look at three fallen angels trading near their 52-week lows that could be worth buying.

I'm ready to friend this companyAfter my spiel last week calling for investors to give Facebook (Nasdaq: FB) a break due to their own inaccuracies when it comes to predicted game-changing technological trends, I'm going to follow it up with an outperform call on the company.

What Facebook will not do is ever live up to the hype that surrounded the stock. It's no longer a fresh idea, and its platform still needs a lot of tweaking with regard to how it monetizes its 102 million mobile-only users. In spite of Facebook's numerous shortcomings, ranging from its botched IPO all the way through its first public earnings report, there's really a lot to like with the stock more than 50% off its highs.

Facebook's monthly active users jumped 29% year-over-year to 955 million. It also recently announced a new and improved app for Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) iOS and Google's Android OS, which should speed up usability and drive traffic. Facebook also noted that Apple has plans to deeply engrain the Facebook app into its next-generation iOS and OS X. Not to mention that the IPO generated $6.8 billion in cash proceeds for the company, pushing its cash balance to $10.2 billion, or $4.76 per share. As a long-term play, once the hype and the lock-up periods pass, Facebook makes a lot of sense at these levels.

Keep it rollin'It's been a rough couple of years for aluminum manufacturers. Today, I want to take a look at Noranda Aluminum (NYSE: NOR) , and show why it could be an intriguing long-term buy.

Like its largest rival, Alcoa, Noranda is highly dependent on the price of aluminum to drive its bottom-line results. Unlike Alcoa, since Noranda is focused on selling many of its products within the U.S., it gets to charge a premium of a few cents per pound on its aluminum products to its customers. That differentiation is one reason Noranda is able to remain profitable even with aluminum prices falling more than 20% over last year.

Also, while Noranda relies on automotive and the housing sector for a good portion of its sales (and please note: both have been relatively strong of late), it provides billets that are used in HVAC units and recreational vehicles. HVAC sales should strengthen as housing recovers, and rec vehicles have been on fire lately (see Polaris Industries or Arctic Cat for further evidence of this).

Finally, Noranda controls its entire production process -- from raw materials to flat-rolled finished products -- which allows it to keep its expenses under control. Unless aluminum prices dip another 20% or more, Noranda should be good to go.

You got BlackBerried!According to the Strategy Analytics Handset Component Technologies service report (what a mouthful!), Marvell Technologies (Nasdaq: MRVL) lost its top-five ranking in the smartphone application processor rankings because of its reliance on Research In Motion. In short, Marvell got BlackBerried!

Despite the consistent revenue shortfalls in recent quarters because of RIM, there are still reasons to believe Marvell will be a long-term successor, if not a potential buyout target.

To begin with, Marvell has strong tie-ins with China Mobile. Smartphone growth is fairly tepid this year, but a burgeoning middle class in China should drive an expansion of China Mobile and Marvell's current partnership. A shrinking average selling price of smartphones should also make them more accessible to the public and give Marvell more potential unit sales.

Another growth opportunity for Marvell is solid-state drives. Marvell and SanDisk (Nasdaq: SNDK) recently announced their intention to collaborate on and create a new generation of microservers for enterprise cloud management. This aspect alone makes Marvell an attractive buyout target. Tack on $2.13 billion in cash, no debt, and a forward P/E around 9, and consider me hooked!

Foolish roundupThis week's theme is to give the product proper time to grow. Marvell and Facebook offer viable technologies and platforms that simply aren't being given a chance to develop. Similarly, Noranda has long-term appeal, but investors can't seem to see past a recent dive in aluminum prices.

If you've got an insatiable case of Facebook on the brain and my quick take didn't satisfy your need for analysis, then you need our latest premium research report on Facebook. This report highlights all of the opportunities and pitfalls that could move the stock and comes with one full year of regular updates. To get your investing edge, click here to get your premium report.

Fool contributor Sean Williams has no material interest in any companies mentioned in this article. You can follow him on CAPS under the screen name TMFUltraLong, track every pick he makes under the screen name TrackUltraLong, and check him out on Twitter, where he goes by the handle @TMFUltraLong.

The Motley Fool owns shares of Facebook, Apple, Arctic Cat, and China Mobile. Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended buying shares of Facebook, Apple, Google, and Polaris Industries, as well as creating a bull call spread position in Apple. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy that's always on the lookout for a good deal.

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